Tulane Law School strives to create opportunities that enhance our students' practical skillsets in order to better prepare them for their jobs following law school. Through partnerships with local legal professionals, alumni, employers and law school faculty, Tulane Law works to supplement the classroom experience with programs such as Intersession "Boot Camp", externships, judicial clerkships and pro bono opportunities.

Negotiation & Mediation Advocacy

Course Description

The purpose of this course is to expose students to the process of negotiation as a pervasive lawyering activity; to increase awareness of the technical, interdisciplinary, and ethical dimensions of that process; to introduce the concept of the lawyer's role as problem-solver; to enable students to experiment with and consider thoughtfully the various theories, forms, and techniques of negotiation and mediation advocacy; and to provide students an opportunity to assess their own capabilities within those contexts. 75% of the course will focus on negotiation and 25% on mediation advocacy. (Please note that the mediation advocacy portion of the course is not training students to be mediators but rather to enhance their understanding of the lawyer’s role in a mediation.) A number of negotiation exercises are completed outside of class at times that are mutually agreed upon by the negotiators. Flexibility by students in this regard is expected.
One negotiation will be videotaped on Friday, February 25, 2011 between 12:30 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. (students need only be available for 30 minutes during that time). As noted below, there will be an attendance rule in this class and missing the taping session is the equivalent of a missed class.
JD and American LLM students will be graded on a "Pass/C/Fail" basis and International Graduate Students will be graded on a Pass/Recommended/Not Recommended" basis. There is no curve in this course. This course is initially limited to third-year and LLM students. Because of the need to have sections that are divisible by four, absent an emergency situation, third-year and LLM students may not drop this course after the end of the first two weeks of the semester.
However, in the past there has been some room for second-year students. There will be a sign-up sheet for second-year students in Suite 355 on Professor Barron's door BEGINING AT 9:00 A.M. ON a date TBD. Second-year students interested in taking the course should sign the sheet and if there is room they will be admitted in the order in which they signed up. THIS IS THE ONLY WAY THAT SECOND-YEAR STUDENTS CAN REGISTER FOR THIS COURSE.
This course is taught by Paul Barron, Jennifer Bechet, Stephen Bullock, Mathew Chester, Robert Jenks, Roger Larue, Michael Moran, William Pitts, Elizabeth Ryan, Charles Thensted, Thomas Usdin, Susanne Veters, and Rachel Wendt Wisdom. The professors plan to invoke a rule penalizing students for lack of preparedness and/or excessive absenteeism. Students who took Intercultural Negotiation & Mediation in Berlin or Alternative Dispute Resolution in the Fall 2010 semester may not take Negotiation & Mediation Advocacy due to course overlap.
Note: There is a $15.00 course fee for materials. (3 credits)